A Rush Of Blood To The Head
by literatiwhore
Summary: Jess goes to Stars Hollow for a surprise visit and finds out the surprise is on him. Nothing like all the other baby fics. A little AU. A little OOC. A little bit amazing if I say so myself. R&R! ALL 10 CHAPTERS ARE CURRENTLY BEING FIXED AND REPOSTED.
1. one

**Author's note: **It has been a very long time since I updated this but I am planning on finishing it up. I have an outline and some notes and stuff written down so hopefully there will be a new chapter up relatively soon!This is not a "real" update but I am revising the chapters I already have written and I'm changing a few things in some of them and a lot of things in others because I recently reread them and I was horrified by most of what I had written. So I am excited about writing this again and I hope people are still interested in reading it. Reviews are appreciated and anonymous ones are enabled in case you want to leave another one. :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the show. I own Libby and any other original characters that come along.

-----

Jess pulled into the familiar driveway and turned the key in the ignition to off. He wrapped his scarf around his neck while he looked at the light blue house with white shutters. It looked bigger and the paint looked new; it no longer looked crap-shack-y. He assumed that Luke and Lorelai had fixed it up after they got engaged and he made a mental note to tell Luke that it looked nice.

He stubbed out his cigarette and subconsciously put the pack of cigarettes into his coat pocket. He was a stress smoker and he hated it but it was oddly reassuring to have some on hand. He didn't even know why he was stressed; he was just visiting his uncle. He did have a strange feeling that this visit wasn't going to be completely normal but it was Stars Hollow, nothing was normal here. Grabbing his messenger bag, he got out of the car.

"Here goes nothing," he said to himself.

The last time he had seen his uncle was in Philadelphia when Luke had brought April to meet him. He hadn't seen Luke or even talked to him since then. Jess found that odd, because he had assumed that they would stay in contact, especially since he had paid Luke back and apologized for all the grief he had caused when he was a teenager. He had called a couple of times but Luke was always too busy to talk or wasn't at the diner and he didn't want to call Lorelai's. He knew that Luke and Lorelai had finally gotten married but he only knew because of Liz. He hadn't been invited to the wedding and if he was being completely honest with himself, that hurt his feelings. He was family and Luke was always going on about how family is important and you do things for them. Jess shook the thoughts out of his head and walked up the steps to the front door. He wasn't sure if anyone was home but he knocked anyway.

-----

Lorelai opened her eyes when she heard somebody knock on the door. She groaned and shut her eyes again. She was not awake enough to deal with _anybody_. The knocking continued and she sat up.

"Open the door!" she yelled.

"It's locked."

"Use your key!"

"Don't have one," the mystery person yelled back.

She reluctantly got up and walked over to the door.

"I hate you", she muttered. She unlocked the door and opened it up to discover Jess.

"What are you doing here", she said surprised.

Jess stared at her with one eyebrow raised, "You look like hell", he responded with his usual bluntness. She was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a hoodie and she looked like she hadn't gotten more than four hours of sleep in over a week. Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him and he backed away a few steps.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything, I'm just visiting." he replied, confused by her tone.

"I'm serious Jess. What do you want," Lorelai asked staring him in the eye.

"I'm here to see Luke, that's my only reason. I'm in Hartford for the weekend and I thought I'd come see him." Jess responded honestly.

Lorelai sighed, "Luke is out of town. He's chaperoning some overnight field trip for April. He'll be back in the morning though. You can stay at the diner tonight if you don't want to drive back to Hartford, and unless you want Babette to tell everyone in town that you're back, I suggest you come inside." She opened the door wider and he stepped in the foyer.

"Thank you", he said taking off his scarf and coat, "It's like three degrees out."

Lorelai smirked. "It's the middle of winter in Connecticut," she replied. "What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. I must've forgotten how cold it gets here. I don't think it usually gets this cold Philly," Jess said, following Lorelai to the couch.

"New couch?" he asked.

She plopped down on it and sighed; shutting her eyes she answered his question. "Yeah, the old one sucked and we redid the house so we got new furniture too."

"House looks nice," he told her, sitting down also.

"Thank you. Now, tell me why you're here," Lorelai said, opening her eyes.

"I told you," Jess said, "I'm here to see Luke"

Lorelai moved so she was sitting up all the way and wiped the sleep from her eyes. "Come on Jess," she said, "Why are you really here? Do you need money? Is your car on the fritz again? Are you in town to see your mother? Are you here to see Ro-"

"Fifteen," he interrupted.

"What are you talking about," she questioned.

"Fifteen questions till we hit 20," he replied in his old smart ass manner.

"Why Jess? Why are you here to see Luke?" She said, ignoring his previous comment.

Jess sighed. "I wrote another book and it actually got picked up by a publishing house, not the one I work at. I'm in town for the weekend because I was up in New York going over the contract with my editor. I thought Luke might want to know so I decided to stop in Hartford instead of driving back to Philadelphia tonight. And surprise surprise, I actually wanted to see him; I haven't seen him or talked to him since April. I thought it would be nice to stop by. That is my only reason. I'd visit my mom too but I really don't want to see TJ; the last time I called he thought it was necessary to have a twenty minute conversation about tights."

Lorelai grimaced, "Well I can't blame you for avoiding them, he _is_ weird. You can take your coat off. Stay a while."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Lorelai asked if he wanted anything to drink. He answered and she went to the kitchen and returned with two bottles of water and handed one to Jess.

"Thanks," he said, "Congratulations by the way; Liz told me you two finally got married. Took Luke long enough, he only pined after you for what, eleven years?" he said with a smile.

"So, you can smile after all," Lorelai said jokingly. "Can I see the new book?" she asked. "I read your other one, it was good. Very original. That's great news about your new book getting picked up. Maybe you'll become famous and they'll make a really shitty movie out of your book and you can go on world tours and make millions," she rambled on in traditional Gilmore fashion.

"I doubt it," Jess said back. "It's not that good of a book or that long and I don't think they're going to promote it a whole lot."

"Oh, well you never know. Maybe some book reviewer for _The New York Times_ will read it and fall in love with it and then it will be on the best sellers list or Oprah will read it and choose it for her book club and then you'll be on TV!"

Jess nodded his head in disagreement and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I don't see any of that happening." He reached to the floor, picked up his bag and pulled out a copy of his book, "I have a few early copies though, you can have one, write a review for _The Stars Hollow Gazette_."

"Okay, but Kirk is the newest reviewer for The Gazette. He reviews books and movies and puts all of the reviews up on the town website. You should read his review for _The Last Unicorn_; he goes on for like five paragraphs about it would be physically impossible for horses to "magically sprout horns" and that's why the enchanted forest was running out of unicorns. He doesn't use a single contraction in the entire review. It is amazing."

"I think I'll pass."

"Your loss. It's still early." Lorelai said, looking at the clock, it was only eight. "Want to watch a movie?" "I bought Almost Famous a few weeks ago; I know you used to drive Rory crazy with it."

Jess smiled. "I'm always up to watch that. I'm surprised Rory let you buy that. She hates that movie." The sad look on Lorelai's face did not go unnoticed by Jess but he didn't say anything.

"Yeah well, she's not here so she doesn't get a say in what movies I buy," Lorelai said bitterly. "I don't get any say in what she does so why should she get a say in what movies I like."

"Did you two have a fight again or something?"

"Something like that. She moved. She lives in London now. She moved a month and a half ago and she told me three days before she left. Who the hell does that, Jess? Who tells their mother they are moving over three thousand miles away three days before they leave? " Lorelai said, staring down the hallway towards Rory's old room.

Jess glanced down the hall also. The door was opened a crack and he could see a light on. "I…I don't know who does that but it does not sound like Rory. Is she still with that dick from Yale?" he asked. Lorelai was in a weird mood and it was making him nervous.

"Yeah, she moved with him. Logan. He is a dick. He's not good for her but she's chosen to ignore that. She changed when she met him Jess, she really changed. You've changed too, but you've changed for the better, not Rory. I don't even know her anymore." Lorelai looked up at Jess with tears in her eyes and he gave her a sad smile.

They both stared at the blank television for a few minutes, both thinking about Rory, before a whimper interrupted their thoughts. Lorelai groaned but stayed where she was. The whimpering turned into crying and she stood up and walked to the kitchen. Jess awkwardly stayed seated on the couch and pretended to be looking for something in his bag. Lorelai finally came back in the room holding a baby and a bottle.

Jess looked up at her with a shocked look at his face. "I'm sorry, but Luke "Jam Hands" Danes procreated? Again?"

Lorelai sat back down and gave him the same sad smile she gave him before. "Don't look so shocked. Do you want to hold her?" She asked.

"Uhm, if I drop her, will you kill me?" He said jokingly.

Lorelai smiled, "No, I won't. And you're sitting down; I doubt you'll drop her." She held the baby out and Jess slowly took her into his arms. He looked down at the tiny baby wrapped in a pink blanket. She had a full head of dark brown hair and big blue-grey eyes.

"She's adorable," he told Lorelai. "Yeah, she is. Her name's Libby. It's short for Lorelai Elizabeth. I knew we needed to name her Lorelai to continue on the tradition but Luke came up with the Elizabeth part. He said it would be nice if the baby was named after her two grandmothers, although I am so not old enough to be a grandma," she paused and looked down at Jess. He was totally oblivious to what she had just said.

"It's kind of squicky if you think about it, especially since Luke and I are married now. But we weren't when she was conceived so that makes it better, at least in my opinion it does. Thankfully you're only step-cousins, no blood relation at all. She doesn't look at thing like Rory though or you for that matter. We went to Liz's once and she showed me a baby picture of you and damn, you were a fat baby. And that head! You grew into it though; I had a big head when I was little too. My mother used to tell me all the time. My first sentence was "big head want dolly". I actually burned all of my baby pictures once. Emily was so mad. God, I thought I was going to be grounded forever!"

She stopped talking and glanced up; Jess was staring at her with a bewildered look on his face.

"What did you say?"

"Really? You want me to repeat all of that?"

"The first part, cause I think I heard you wrong."

"Has Rory contacted you since she went and saw you in Philly?"

"No, none of you have. My mom's the only one I've talked to. Is there something going on that I need to know about?"

"I am going to kill Rory. Oh my God, I can't believe her!"

Jess took the bottle from Lorelai's hands and put it in Libby's mouth; she was getting more restless by the minute.

"Lorelai, what is going on? What did Rory do?"

Lorelai put her head in her hands and thought for a minute. "Okay, I'm just going to tell you straight up."

Jess looked at Lorelai and then at Libby. "Oh my God, no."

"I'm afraid so. Jess, meet Libby. Your daughter."


	2. two

**Author's note: **I am in the process of rewriting bits of the chapters I already have and writing new ones. Read the AN in chapter one for more info. Reviews are appreciated!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the show. I own Libby and any other original characters that come along.

-----

"You cannot be serious," Jess said.

"I am. And I am so, so, so, sorry Jess. Rory said you knew. She had this whole elaborate story about telling you and I didn't believe her but I didn't know what to do."

"I didn't know. Rory never called me; she never told me she was pregnant. Somebody else could've called for her! Didn't I deserve to know? How could she do that to me? I would think that she of all people would want their baby's father around. Or does she not care? You said she's in London with that asshole. She just up and left her baby with no parents? Without even telling me about her? What the fuck. Who the hell does that?"

Jess handed Libby over to Lorelai and stood up "I'll be back; I just…I need to get some fresh air before all my blood rushes to my head." He walked over to the door and pulled it open a little too forcefully. He pulled his coat on and slammed the door.

-----

Jess was pissed. How dare Rory have their baby and not tell him. How dare she abandon their baby. Jess walked to the one place he could stand in this crazy town, the bridge. He plopped down, his feet dangling over the edge, and stared at the ice covered pond before him. He groped around his coat pockets before he found his cigarettes. He pulled one out and lit it; he hoped the nicotine would help calm him down.

He thought about what Lorelai said, how Rory had made him seem like the bad guy, he hadn't thought it was possible but at that moment he hated Rory. Could she have been anymore selfish? He exhaled through his nose, blowing out smoke, and leaned back so his head was on the cold wood of the bridge. He heard someone walking but stayed where he was, and shut his eyes.

"Jesus Christ," he said to himself.

"Hey," Lorelai said, scaring him.

Jess sat up to see Lorelai standing next to him with a stroller. "Isn't it a little cold out here for a baby?"

She smiled, "Overprotective daddy already? And no, she has a snowsuit on and like 3 blankets. It's probably seventy degrees in there," she said, pointing to the stroller. Lorelai pushed down the lock on the stroller wheel and sat down next to Jess.

"What happened?" Jess asked.

Lorelai sighed. "It's a long story. You want the whole thing?"

He nodded yes.

"Okay," Lorelai continued. "I'll give you Rory's version. About five weeks after she went to see you, she told me that she was pregnant. I assumed it was Logan's baby but she said that he had been out of town on some stupid death club stunt at the time and they had been having some issues before that, so there was no way it was his, if you get what I'm saying."

He nodded again.

"She told me about the invitation she had gotten from you and that she had gone to Philadelphia to see you. She gave me the G-rated version of what happened but I know how babies are made so it's not like she had to explain it. I asked her if she told you, if the two of you were going to work together and try to make it work, I know your dad skipped out when you were a baby so I knew you'd at least try at this whole parenting thing. She said she told you. She said she called you and told you and you told her off. She said you didn't believe her, you thought the baby was Logan's and even if it was yours, you didn't want anything to do with it."

Jess scoffed, "That is not true at all. I haven't heard from Rory or Luke or anyone from here since that night."

"I know. I didn't believe her and she knew that but she told everyone her story anyway. And I mean everyone; every single person in this town has heard that damn story at least twice. I guess she thought it would come true or she'd believe it if she told it as many times as she could. Oh, and Logan. My God. She told Logan that she was having someone else's baby and he told her now they were even and she couldn't bring up him cheating on her when they were on a break and she agreed. She told me that and I was ready to call up Jeff VanVonderen for a Logan intervention."

"Cause you love her like crazy?"

"Yeah, and Ken Seeley creeps me out so I wouldn't want him to do it. He's so sweaty looking."

"She had nine months to contact me. Was I that terrible of a boyfriend that I didn't deserve to know that she was having my baby?"

Lorelai put a hand on his back to try to comfort him. "Honestly Jess, I think she was in denial. She didn't want to believe that she was pregnant. I think she tried to pretend it wasn't happening. She wouldn't talk about it, she only went to the doctor after I practically forced her into it and I had to drive her to all of her appointments. She didn't buy anything for Libby, she didn't come up with names, she wouldn't wear maternity clothes; she wouldn't do anything. She just acted like she wasn't pregnant. She stayed at Yale; she finished up the semester in December and then moved home. She went into labor on January third, Libby was born that night. I went to talk to her after she gave birth and that's when she told me she was moving.

She wanted Luke and I to take the baby. We could pick out her name, buy all the stuff she needed, we could do everything. She literally wanted nothing to do with her. She wouldn't even hold her. Libby was so tiny; she only weighed four and a half pounds when she was born, she was healthy though, just small. I went out the next day and bought everything we'd need. Libby came home the day after and Rory went and stayed at Logan's apartment in New York. She left the next day and I've heard from her once. She emailed me to tell me that Logan proposed and she accepted. I haven't heard from her since."

Jess stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and tossed it into the pond.

"Ooh, Taylor's gonna kill you!"

He rolled his eyes. "Do you want to know what really happened?"

"Very much so."

"Rory showed up at the open house and surprised me. I wasn't expecting her; I only sent the invitation to be nice. When everyone left she was still there. We sat down and started talking. She told me things were over with Logan, not officially, but she said she knew that they would never work. I don't know why but I kissed her. When I pulled away to apologize, she kissed me back. We wound up going to my room but I didn't really want to take things farther. It was all her, she said it was fine, that she was on the pill or patch or something," he paused, not sure what would be considered too much information.

"The next morning I woke up and she was gone. There was a note taped to my door. She said it was a mistake, she realized that she loved Logan and needed to work things out with him. That was the last time I've heard from her. That was the last time I've seen or talked to Luke too. I'm assuming he wouldn't take my calls because of the baby."

Lorelai nodded. "Rory wouldn't let us get a hold of you. She said you turned her away once and she "couldn't deal with being turned away again". I tried to get your email address or phone number but Luke wouldn't give them to me. He said we needed to respect Rory's wishes. He agrees with me now but he still hasn't said we should contact you. I wanted to tell you so bad Jess. I knew you'd want to be part of Libby's life. I am so sorry you found out this way."

"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault; Rory shouldn't have done what she did. It's her fault I wasn't there. If anything I'm sorry that you had to deal with all of this. I'm sure taking in a newborn that isn't yours was hard."

"It's been the hardest on Luke. He believed Rory so he was shocked when I told him we were bringing Libby home. He's also never been around a baby so the whole waking up multiple times in the middle of the night thing is foreign territory to him but I think he's getting used to it. We're just trying to, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work."

Jess stood up abruptly, startling Lorelai. "It's getting late. You should head home. I'll go to the diner. I need some time to process all of this." He held out his hand to help her up.

"I'll come over in the morning to see Libby and Luke."

Lorelai took his hand and pulled herself up. "Okay, we'll see you then."

Jess waved goodbye and they went in opposite directions. When he got to the diner, he pulled down the extra key from its "hiding" spot and unlocked the door. He made his way through the dark diner and up the steps to the apartment where he had lived for two and a half years. This was the only place he had ever called home. It was the only place with family that cared about him and welcomed him. He dug through his old dresser and found some pajama pants and a thermal shirt that he must've left behind. He quickly swapped the clothes he had on for the pajamas and crawled into his old twin size bed.

He tried to get into a comfortable position but he couldn't. He couldn't slow his mind down either. Thoughts raced through his mind and he thought about everything Lorelai had said. There was no reason for her and Luke to raise Libby. He was fully capable of doing it himself. He had a decent paying job; he could work from home and he definitely wasn't planning on moving to London anytime soon. He glanced around the room looking for a clock until his eyes settled on the alarm clock on his dresser. He frowned when he read the time, it was only five. Lorelai would kill him if he showed up now. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fall asleep so he got up, took a hot shower and watched some TV to kill time.

-----

At seven thirty Jess shrugged on his coat and walked to Luke and Lorelai's. He knocked on the door and she opened it a minute later.

"Okay, we must have different definitions of morning." Lorelai said as she walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Jess followed her and sat down at the table. "I was thinking you'd be over at ten-ish, not seven thirty. I think we're going through a growth spurt here. Libby was up four times. Four! I'd fall asleep and she'd be back up twenty minutes later. I just put her down, again." She sat down and rested her head on her hand.

"That's why I'm here," Jess said. "She's my kid; you shouldn't have to do this. I want custody."


	3. three

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the show. I own Libby and any other original characters that come along.

-----

Lorelai stared at him. "You want custody?"

"Yeah, like I said, she's my kid. I am perfectly capable of raising her; there's no reason that you and Luke should have to do this. I mean I'm glad she's with you two and not in London with Rory and that jerk, but I'm her father. I should be responsible for her."

The coffee pot dinged, signaling that it was ready, and Lorelai stood up and poured two cups for her and Jess. She sat back down and looked at him.

"Jess, I know you want to do the right thing, but raising a kid is hard work, trust me. I'm not saying I'm against you getting custody or anything; I just need to know where this is coming from. I need to know if you're actually serious, not just mad at Rory for being selfish and stupid."

"Lorelai," Jess began, "I am completely serious. I want to do this, I know it will be hard but I'm used to life being hard. I'm willing to work my ass off to do this. And yeah, I'm mad at Rory; I'm mad as hell at Rory, but that's not why I want custody. I can't go back to Philly now. I can't pretend this weekend never happened or just ignore that I have a kid. I can't be my dad. "

Lorelai got up and refilled her coffee cup, already having downed the first cup, before replying.

"Nobody's asking you to forget about this Jess. I don't expect you to ignore that Libby exists and I don't expect you to act like your dad, I know he wasn't around. However, I don't think it's a good idea for you to take Libby and move back to Philadelphia. Being a full time single parent is hard work on its own; it's even harder if you have a full time job. Do you even know the first thing about babies?"

"I never said anything about taking Libby back to Philly with me. This may not be my first pick on a list of places to live, but I would be willing to move back here for a while if that's what I need to do."

"Oh," Lorelai said with a hint of surprise in her voice. "You've changed more than I thought." She stared at her coffee mug and thought for a moment.

"I guess I am willing to work with you here. I think we should do a trial run. You and Libby can stay at the inn for the time being. We've been pretty slow since the holidays. You should go out tomorrow and look for an apartment though, if you really are serious about moving back here. Although you probably could stay at Luke's old place."

"There is no way in hell I am moving back there. The entire place smells like really old French fries."

Lorelai crinkled her nose at the thought. "It does smell. I guess you can just look in the classifieds then. I think there's a new apartment complex over on Plum Street, they might have some openings still. You have one month to prove to me, and to Luke, that you can do this. If you can make it a month, I think I would be willing to give you custody."

"I don't get why I need to "prove" to you that I can do this," he said. "Libby is MY daughter. If I had known about her before she was born, I wouldn't have to prove that I can be a good parent."

"I get what you're saying Jess, but you don't have the best track record here. I know you were only a teenager when you lived here before but old habits die hard. I don't want you to get in over your head and bail. Again."

"You're right," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I was only eighteen when I lived here before. I was eighteen and an idiot but I didn't bail. I left because Luke kicked me out. He found out I wasn't graduating and he told me I either had to stay and repeat twelfth grade or I had to leave. I wanted to stay, get my GED and find a job but he wouldn't let me explain that to him. I either had to stay and do what he wanted me to do or leave completely. I didn't mean to hurt Rory, I wanted to explain everything to her but I knew she wouldn't understand. She was heading to Yale and I couldn't even finish high school."

"Luke never told me everything that happened, all he said was that you left. I probably would've been a little easier on you if I had known he kicked you out."

"Somehow I don't believe that," he said with a smirk. "You weren't exactly my biggest fan."

"Well, if you had told Rory all that I would've made her lighten up on you. Knowing her she would've tried to force you to go back to school. I know what it's like to have people expect you to do what they've planned out for you. God, Rory was a year old and my parents still tried to force me into marrying her dad. I finally realized I'd never be able to live the life I wanted to live if I stayed at home. I saved up my money, packed up everything I could take and left. I went and lived life the way I wanted to. Jeez, we're more alike than I ever thought."

"That's a scary thought."

"How rude," Lorelai said. "There is nothing wrong with have qualities similar to the ones I possess."

"Uh huh. Have we come to a decision on the Libby issue?" Jess asked trying to wrap up the conversation. Talking to Lorelai without her making snide remarks about him was weirding him out.

Lorelai got up and put their empty mugs into the sink. "I need some more time to think about everything we've discussed and I need to talk to Luke. I don't think he'll be on board with all of this but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I think will get him to come around."

"I do not want to know about that area of your relationship."

"Don't be gross," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes. "That's not what I meant. I haven't told anyone yet but I'm pregnant. Almost two months."

"Oh, uh congratulations," Jess said awkwardly. He had never been that good at congratulating people. "That would explain why you aren't completely against this whole idea."

Lorelai nodded. "I've had a rough eight weeks and it's been even harder taking care of a newborn at the same time. Lane watches her twice a week while I work but the other days I'm either home with her or I take her to work with me and it's really hard to deal with morning sickness, running an inn and putting up Michel all while carrying around a six week old that hates being put down or left alone. I found out I was pregnant the day after Libby was born. I was going to tell Luke that night but then Rory told me that she was moving and not taking her kid and then we brought Libby home and I just haven't found a good time to tell him. I was planning on telling him this week. I was going to get a babysitter and take Luke out and tell him that come September, we'll have a newborn and a seven month old. I was also going to beg him for your phone number, so thank you for your excellent timing. Now I don't have to beg, I can keep my dignity!"

"No problem. So, trial run?"

"Oh yeah. Libby is yours for the weekend. You get to deal with all the fun middle of the night feedings and the blow-out diapers and I get to sleep in! I have to go to work today so I won't be here when Luke gets home. I'll call him though; try to get him to stop by the inn so I can explain everything to him. But you should know that he is not very reliable when it comes to checking his voice mail so if I don't get a hold of him you're on your own. I'll put Libby's car seat base into your car. The car seat snaps into it but you have to check the side to make sure the angle adjuster thing is lined up."

"I think we'll just stay here. I'm not in the mood to be verbally abused by everybody in town today," Jess said.

"Will you ever be ready for that? Anyway, her clothes are in the dresser; if you go for a walk or anything make sure she has a hat on. Her diapers are in a basket on the changing table, dirty ones go in the Diaper Genie not into the trash can. Her stroller is in the front closet, it's folded shut but it opens easily. I would recommend taking that with you if you do wind up going anywhere, lugging around a car seat gets old really fast. There are bottles and formula in the cupboard by the stove. There's a scoop in the formula can and it says how much you need on the back. Uhm, use the water from the water cooler not from the sink. She doesn't really have a schedule so just feed her when she's hungry and let her sleep if she's tired. I think that's everything."

"So don't kill her and you'll be happy?"

"Pretty much. Oh! She is a BIG fan of being held and carried around. A really big fan. Most of the time when she's crying you can just pick her up and she'll settle down."

"Okay. Do you know when Luke will be back?"

"I think he said around eleven. I have to go get ready for work; Libby shouldn't be up till nine or nine-thirty. You can read or something while you wait. There are still some books on the shelves in Rory's room," Lorelai said loudly as she walked up the stairs. "Just don't wake Libby up!"

Jess quietly pushed to door to Rory's room open once he knew Lorelai was upstairs. He walked over to the crib and looked down at Libby. She was wrapped in a swaddling blanket that looked more like a baby straight jacket than a blanket and her face was scrunched up like she was having a bad dream. She let out a small whimper and Jess reached down and lightly stroked her cheek. Almost instantly she settled down and her breathing quieted.

-----

At eight thirty, Lorelai came down the steps causing Jess to look up from the issue of _People_ magazine that he'd found on the coffee table. She sat down on the steps to pull on her boots.

"Are you seriously reading that article about Tyra Banks and how she is not fat but if she was fat she'd be okay with it?"

"I started to but then I realized that I hate her."

"Who doesn't these days?" Lorelai walked over to the closet in the foyer and pulled out her coat. "I won't be off work until five and Luke's going to the diner when he gets back. You can come by the Dragonfly for lunch if you want. Oh, and pack a bag for Libby so you guys can stay at the inn. She just needs clothes and a few empty bottles. I have diapers and formula in my office, remind me to give them to you."

"Okay. My car's unlocked so you can put her car seat in it."

"Okay, I almost forgot about that." Lorelai walked over to where Jess was sitting while she was putting on her coat and looked at him with an amused look on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing, this is just weird."

"What's weird?"

"This. Us talking. We've had not one, not two, but three conversations in less than twenty-four hours that didn't involve you making smartass comments and me wanting to smack you. We actually _got along."_

"Well don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my reputation."

"Noted. Okay, I'm leaving now. I'll go hook up Libby's car seat. The number to the inn is on the fridge in case you have an emergency but Babette should be home so if something really bad happens you can go over there for help."

"No," Jess said, nodding his head. "I am not, for any reason at all, going to Babette's house."

Lorelai walked over to the front door and pulled it open. "That's what I thought. See you later!"

-----

Lorelai dug her cell phone out of her purse when she got to the Dragonfly and quickly dialed Luke's number.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up!" It rang five times before going to voicemail. "Hey it's Lorelai. Call me as soon as you get this, it's really important. Really, really important. No one's dead or anything but I need to talk to you as soon as possible. ASAP. STASAP, sooner than as soon as possible! Call me back or come by the inn before you go home. Please!"

She dropped her phone back into her bag and went to hunt down Sookie to tell her everything that had happened since the night before.

-----

At nine-thirty, just like Lorelai had said, Libby woke up crying. Jess turned off the TV and stood up. He was a little nervous about what was ahead of him; he had never taken care of a baby before. He walked down the hallway into the nursery and turned on the overhead light. The blinds were closed so no sunlight could come in and wake up Libby. He went over to the crib and gently picked her up and held her in the crook of his arm. Together they went over to her dresser and Jess dug around the top drawer before pulling out a pink, beige, and brown striped long-sleeved bodysuit and tiny pink cable-knit cashmere slipper booties.

"That is so like Lorelai," he said, looking down at Libby. "Cashmere slippers for a baby?"

He set Libby down on the changing table and undid the swaddling blanket that she was wrapped in. She tensed up when he undid the snaps on her pajamas and he soon realized that she did not like diaper changes. He quickly changed and dressed her, picked her up and grabbed a green baby blanket off of the rocking chair in the corner. Together they went into the kitchen where he prepared a bottle and then the two of them settled down on the couch in the living room.

-----

Luke pulled into the driveway at April and Anna's house and turned off his truck. They both got and he grabbed April's overnight bag from the back while she ran ahead of him and went inside. He was walking to the front door when Anna came out, pulling her coat on.

"Hey," he said, walking over to where she was standing.

"Hi. How was the field trip?"

"Good, good. All the kids seemed to enjoy spending the night at the museum." April's class had won an overnight trip to The Children's Museum in West Hartford and Luke had gotten asked to chaperone.

Anna shut the front door and sat down on the front step before gesturing for Luke to sit next to her.

"We need to talk."

She waited for Luke to sit before continuing. "My mom's got cancer, Luke, she lives on her own in New Mexico and she's in chemo but she needs help going to and from appointments and help around the house. I need to go down there as soon as I can. I was hoping April could stay with you and Lorelai un-"

"Of course!" Luke interrupted. "April can stay with us as long as you need her too. Things have gotten a little complicated since we brought Libby home but April is always welcome. She just started a new semester at school though, so I assume she'll stay with us until the school year is complete?"

"You didn't let me finish. I was hoping she could stay with you until I get settled in New Mexico and find us a house. April's moving with me, Luke. She's going to transfer to a school down there. I've already found a handful of ones that look promising."

"What!?" Luke was more than a little pissed off about what Anna was telling him. "You're pulling her out of school in the middle of the year even though she could easily stay here, with me, and finish out the year?"

Anna sighed. She had been expecting Luke to blow things out of proportion like this. "It's not that big of a deal Luke. She can stay with you until the first quarter of the semester is over and then she is moving. End of story. I've already discussed this with her and while she is not happy about it, she knows it's what's best. I don't know how long we'll be down there, this may wind up being a permanent move, but if we can work it out she can come and visit you for a few weeks in the summer."

Luke stood up and started pacing back and forth. "This is so like you Anna. You only do what's best for you, you never think about anyone else! She is my daughter too! I deserve more than "a few weeks in the summer". I missed out on the first twelve years of her life and I don't want to miss anymore. I've just gotten to know her and now you're going to take her away from me! I can't believe you!"

"I'm sorry you feel this way Luke, but I'm her mother. I know what's best for her."

"Best for her my ass. You're selfish Anna, you always have been."

"Excuse you," Anna said, standing up. "You can leave if you're going to speak to me like that. Call me when you can act your age." She walked up the steps, into the house and slammed the door leaving Luke standing alone.

-----

Luke was almost back to the crap-shack when his cell phone beeped for what seemed to be the thousandth time. He pulled it out of his coat pocket and dialed his voice mail all while trying to keep his eyes on the road. He put it on speakerphone and winced when Lorelai's voice came blasting over the speaker.

"Hey it's Lorelai. Call me as soon as you get this, it's really important. Really, really important. No one's dead or anything but I need to talk to you as soon as possible. ASA-"

He hung up before it was finished. He seemed to get a voicemail like this from her every week. Last week she had left him five "super urgent" messages while he was in a meeting at the bank. He had called her back as soon as he got them expecting something important to have happened only to have her tell him that Anna Nicole Smith had died. He figured this one was no different, and he was in no mood to deal with something petty and stupid, so he ignored it and continued home.

-----

Jess was in the middle of packing some of Libby's things into an empty diaper bag he found in her room when he heard Luke pull up. Half of him instantly feared for his life and the other half was optimistic that Lorelai had talked to Luke and calmed him down. He heard Luke forcefully slam the door on his truck and he knew the latter was out of the question.

-----

Luke noticed an unfamiliar small black SUV sitting in the driveway but thought nothing of it as he made his way inside the house. He unlocked the door and walked into the foyer.

"Lorelai?" He called out as he walked into the living room. He heard a noise come from the nursery so he made his way down the hall. He pushed the door open and looked at the scene in front of him. Jess was standing by the crib holding Libby. There was a diaper bag by his feat and the car seat was sitting on top of the changer.

"Hey there Uncle Luke," Jess said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Luke had been pissed off when he first got home but now he was furious. He could not believe what he was seeing. Jess was standing in front of him holding the baby that he had wanted nothing to do with just nine months ago.

"What the hell are you doing here?"


	4. four

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the show. I own Libby and any other original characters that come along.

-----

"What the hell are you doing here?" Luke repeated.

"Nice to see you too."

"You can't do this Jess. You can't just waltz back into our lives and pretend that nothing's wrong. You can't fuck everything up again! I won't let you ruin anything else! You've already done enough damage to her mother; I won't let you hurt that baby."

"Damn, that was the first thing on my to-do list today."

"Why do you always have to be such a sarcastic prick?"

"I don't know," Jess said. "Why do you always jump to conclusions and assume everything is my fault? You know what happens when you assume things, don't you?"

Luke stared at him with an un-amused look on his face. "No? You don't know the whole "you make an ass out of you and me thing"?"

"This is not a joke, Jess! You cannot pretend that you didn't do anything wrong!"

"But that's the thing, I didn't do anything wrong. This whole situation," he said, gesturing towards Libby. "I didn't know about it."

"Oh please. Your bullshit act isn't going to work this time, Jess. Rory told us everything. Rory told us how you turned her away, turned your own child away, how you broke her heart. I can't believe Lorelai let you in here after all the problems you've caused!"

Jess rolled his eyes at what Luke was saying. It was so Luke to believe everything Rory said and to make him out to be the bad guy. He did it when Jess was seventeen and here he was doing the same thing five years later.

"Rory's the cause of all of these problems, Luke. I turned her away? She NEVER called me. She never told me that she was pregnant. She lied to you; she lied to all of you. She's not some little angel like you seem to think."

"I don't believe you. Rory never lies; she is one of the most honest people I've ever met."

"She's not Jesus, Luke. Everybody lies! She has you so whipped! You believe every fucking thing that comes out of her mouth. Did you ever stop for a second and think about whether or not she was telling the truth? You honestly believe she called me up and said "Hey, I'm having your baby" and I told her to screw off?"

"Yeah, I do. You're immature Jess. You bail at the first sign of responsibility, you're lazy, and you run away from all your problems!"

Jess strapped Libby into her car seat, pulled her hat onto her head and wrapped a blanket around her. Apparently they would be going to the inn earlier than he had originally planned.

"I don't run away from my problems. I left once, because you kicked me out, and I do not bail at the first sign of responsibility. I had two jobs in high school, I had a full-time job when I moved back to New York and I got my GED. I now co-own a business and I'm a published author. How does any of that make me irresponsible or lazy? "

"I didn't kick you out. I told you you could stay and go back to school! You left on your own. And are you forgetting that you didn't graduate high school because you worked too much and skipped too much school? That's real responsible!" Luke yelled while he followed Jess to the front door.

Jess sat the car seat down on the floor so he could gather his things that he had left the night before.

"I was eighteen! You told me to leave so I left but that doesn't even matter! It has nothing to do with anything anymore. You should've told me about Libby. You even could've called to yell at me. I don't care, all you had to do was pick up the god damn phone and punch a few buttons. Is that that hard to do!?"

"Stop acting like you didn't know! What happened? Did you come back thinking Rory wouldn't be here or did you come back to fix things with her and be a happy little family? She's not in love with you Jess. Get over her. She doesn't want you, she's moved on."

"Moved on or moved? I know she's in London and I know she's not in love with me, I never thought she was. She's moved on, I've moved on, we've all moved on! I don't care what she does; I'm not in love with her either. And for the last time, I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE BABY! Can you not get that through your head? Do you even talk to Lorelai? Cause I talked to her last night and she seems to think the complete opposite of what you are saying. She doesn't believe Rory, why do you? "

Luke shook his head. He knew Jess was lying. Rory would never do something like what he was accusing her of. Lorelai had mentioned once or twice that she thought Rory wasn't being completely honest but he had brushed it off. Lorelai and Rory hadn't gotten along very well since Rory announced she was pregnant so he assumed Lorelai was just pissed at her and was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

"You're worse than your own father Jess! At least Jimmy was there for your mom when she was pregnant and he was there when you were born. Unlike you, he actually tried to be a dad!"

"You're such an ass," Jess said as he picked up his stuff and the car seat. "But I guess some things never change."

Luke watched Jess walk to his car and get Libby settled in. He shut the back door, got into the driver's seat and buckled his seat belt before driving away. Luke shut the front door and for the second time that morning, he was left standing alone regretting things that he had said but would be too stubborn to apologize for.

-----

Lorelai looked up from her position at the front desk when the door to the Dragonfly opened. She was surprised to see Jess as it was only eleven o'clock. He walked over to where she was standing and set the car seat on the desk.

"You're here early."

Lorelai unbuckled Libby and took her out of the car seat. She had started crying when Luke began yelling at Jess and her face was still red and tear stained.

"Luke got back earlier than you said and he seemed to be in a bad mood before he even saw me."

"That's weird. He's usually annoyingly happy after spending time with April. How mad did he get when he saw you?"

"I think if there had been a phone in the vicinity of his hands," Jess said. "He would've pulled a Russell Crowe."

"Ouch. I'm sorry; I called him a bunch of times and left him a voicemail begging him to call me or stop by before her went home."

"Whatever, it's not a big deal. I wasn't expecting him to come home wanting to be my new best friend, although it was completely unnecessary of him to yell loud enough to freak the hell out of Libby. God she's loud. Anyway, why do you have cashmere socks _for a baby_?"

"And a hat!" Lorelai said pointing to the pink hat on Libby's head. "They match! You and Rory had excellent timing in your baby making. I was able to get tons and tons of baby stuff at Old Navy for more than half off since they mark down all of their winter clothes as soon as Christmas rolls around. I even got her some stuff for next year!"

"Let me guess, it's all obnoxiously bright pink like everything else you got."

"It is!" Lorelai said smiling. "And if you don't like her adorable pink car seat and stroller, you can buy a new one. They make lots of ugly brown and green ones; I will just keep the cute pink one for _my_ baby."

"You do that," Jess said. "So can I get a room or is it too early to check in? I need to go make some calls; they're expecting me back at Truncheon today."

"Technically check in is not until three, but it's been dead this week so we have a bunch of empty rooms. I put you in room eight and I had one of the maids set up a crib in there for you. Or for Libby. You two can talk amongst yourselves and decided who gets the crib and who gets the bed. Here is the key," Lorelai said, getting a key off its designated hook. "Lunch is at twelve-thirty. You go make your calls and I will wait for Hurricane Luke to pass through."

Lorelai handed the baby to Jess and had a bell-hop help take his bags to his room. She headed into her office to work on the inventory for the inn and to wait for Luke to call.

-----

Jess sat down on his bed at the Dragonfly and moved Libby around so her head was on his shoulder. He held her upright with one hand and dialed the number for Truncheon Books on his cell phone with the other. He did not want to make this call. He knew Matt and Chris were going to find it hilarious and they'd probably still be ragging on him when Libby's tenth birthday rolled around. The phone rang in his ear and interrupted his thoughts. It stopped ringing after the sixth ring and he could hear someone shuffling things around on the other end. He winced when the phone was dropped and the muffled cursing told him it was going to be Chris on the other line.

"Truncheon Books, this is Chris."

"Hey, it's Jess."

"Dude, where are you? I thought you were gonna be back like two hours ago. That chick from the _City Paper _is supposed to be here in an hour. She said she was hoping we'd all be here so she could do a group interview or a picture or something."

"Oh fuck, I totally forgot. You and Matt are going to have to do by yourselves. I stopped to visit my uncle on the way back to Philly and uh, something's come up. I'm not going to be back for a while."

"Something or someone came up?"

"Technically it is a someone and a something."

"Is it a girl?"

"You could say that," Jess said. He wondered how long it would take to just let Chris guess.

"Is it that girl you hooked up with here? Didn't you say that's how you met her? She lives in the same town as your uncle?"

"Again, you are partially right."

"What, did you get her pregnant or something?"

"Actually, Is Matt there? I don't want to have this conversation twice."

"No, he went out to get breakfast. Someone had a few too many drinks last night and woke up severely hung over. Again. I told him he needs to cut back," Chris said, his voice trailing off as he realized what Jess had just nonchalantly said. "Oh my God! You knocked her up?! I was kidding man!"

----

At twelve-fifteen Lorelai's cell phone rang, startling her awake. She had fallen asleep on the love seat in her office while going over inventory papers and had lost track of time. She pushed a pile of papers aside on the coffee table in front of her and grabbed her phone, picking it up on the last ring.

"Hello?" She answered. Her voice was groggy from sleeping and she tried to quietly clear her throat.

"Do you want to tell me what Jess was doing in our house? And not only in our house, in our house with Libby who he took with him when he left to go god knows where!"

Lorelai shut her eyes and put her head back on the couch as everything came back to her.

"He's in room eight. They're in room eight."

"What the hell are they doing there?"

"Knowing Jess, he's probably reading and Libby is probably sleeping. She usually takes a nap around this time."

"Lorelai, this isn't a joke!" Luke had taken a hot shower to try and relax after Jess left but it hadn't worked. The more he thought about Jess and the situation with Anna, the more pissed off he got. "Why the hell would you let him take Libby?"

"Oh I don't know Luke," she said. Two minutes into a conversation with him and she was already annoyed, this was something that seemed to be happening a lot lately. "Maybe because he's her father."

"No! He is not her father. He made the choice to not be her father the day he said he didn't want anything to do with her. How can you let him do this to her? To us? He's gonna leave Lorelai, that's what he's good at. He's going to mess everything up some more and then he is going to leave. You can mark my words."

"He's not leaving Luke. He's moving back, he's going to find a place to live and he's staying here. He's going to raise the daughter he didn't know he had."

"You don't actually believe him do you?" Luke was in disbelief. Lorelai hated Jess the entire time he had lived here and now here she was, sticking up for him and believing his ridiculous lies. "He's full of shit. All those things he said about Rory, they aren't true and you know it."

"I don't know what to believe anymore. I'm sure Rory told us some things that were true but I have a feeling that a lot of what she told us isn't true. However, I know for a fact that Rory did not tell Jess that she was pregnant. He has a child, Luke; I can't keep him away from her. She's not ours, we can't raise her. He deserves to be a parent and Libby deserves to have a parent around."

"You're right," Luke said. "She does deserve to have a parent around. She deserves to have a responsible, trustworthy, smart, and respectful parent around, which is why we should wait for Rory to come back."

"Luke," Lorelai began. She was already frustrated with him; talking to him was like talking to a brick wall. "Rory is not coming back. She left her friends, her family, and her own child to be with Logan. She's not coming home anytime soon and even if she did, I would not let her take Libby. She's no longer the responsible one. As far as I'm concerned, Jess is. He didn't know about the baby, Luke. Rory never called him; she made the whole thing up. He wants to do this and I am behind him one-hundred percent. He's doing a good thing; you need to get over your problems with him."

"I can't get over my problems with him if he acts like a jackass every time I see him! All I did was ask him what he was doing here and he started being a sarcastic jerk like he always is. You should've heard the things he said to me."

"And you didn't provoke him at all, right?" Lorelai asked sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You can be a bit of a douche when you want to Luke. I highly doubt you walked in the house and he started yelling at you without being provoked or yelled at first. I've seen you get mad; you overreact most of the time. I'm sorry if he yelled at you and you got your feelings hurt but you of all people should know how he feels. You didn't know about April until she was almost thirteen, he's pissed off and Libby's only six-weeks old. I can't believe you're sticking up for Rory when she did something even worse than what Anna did to you. At least Anna kept your kid!"

"How can you just give up on Rory?" Luke asked. "How can you say she'll never come back? You don't know that she won't show up one day, wanting her baby back. I thought you were her best friend. Why are you giving up on her?"

"I'm not giving up on her! I won't give up on her Luke, I never will. I just can't do this anymore! I'm not going to pretend like every thing's going to be okay. I'm not going to pretend that she's just going to show up one day wanting to win the parent of the year award. She's my daughter and I love her but I can't deal with her or all of the problems she's caused right now."

"Oh, so Libby's a problem now? What a nice thing to say about your own grandchild."

"Do not twist my words around," Lorelai said angrily. "I do not think that Libby is a problem and you know that, but I can't do this Luke. I can't take care of her twenty-four seven. You don't know how hard it is to not only get up multiple times a night to be with her, but to do it all day long too. You're not the most help-"

"Don't act like I don't help you," Luke interrupted. "I help you out whenever I can. Just listen to what you are saying! You're exhausted from taking care of her and there are two of us, Jess is only one person. He's going to get in over his head and split."

"I'm pregnant Luke," Lorelai blurted out. She hadn't been planning on telling him like this but she didn't know what else to say to shut him up. "That's why it's so hard. I'm almost two months pregnant. I can't do this any longer. I don't want to be nine months along and have to lug an eight month old everywhere. And I don't even want to think about a year or two from now, am I supposed to have one kid call me mommy and another call me grandma?"

"You should've told me. Why didn't you tell me? I'm your husband; I deserve to know if we are having a baby!"

"Because I knew you'd freak out if I came home with a new baby and told you that come September, we're gonna have another one. I was planning on telling you this week. I was going to tell you and ask you for Jess's phone number but then he showed up and here we are."

"We can make this work Lorelai," Luke said. "We can figure out how to raise Libby and our own baby at the same time. Rory will be back soon, I know she will. She dropped out of Yale and she came to her senses and went back, this is the same thing, a snap decision. She'll realize what she did and she'll come back and do the right thing, we just need to be patient!"

"She went back to Yale because of Jess. Jess showed up and talked to her and she went back. Jess is the responsible one now Luke. I know I didn't like him when he and Rory were dating but he has a good head on his shoulders now. He owns a business, he's written two books, he has a great life in Philadelphia and he's willing to leave it all behind to move here and be a dad. I know you don't think he can do this but Rory's not here, Libby is my granddaughter and whether you like it or not, I get the final say in what happens to her."

"Fine," Luke said bitterly. "Do whatever the hell you want. I'm staying at the diner tonight."

Lorelai snapped her phone shut and set it back down on the coffee table. There was a knock on the door and she got up and opened it to find Jess and a sleeping Libby standing there.

"This day needs to end. Now," she said.

"So Luke was happy?"

"Thrilled."


End file.
